OREM—Osiris Grady scored a career-high 16 points and Trevin Dorius added 15 to lead Utah Valley in a 79-63 setback to Liberty on Wednesday night at the UCCU Center.
 
Utah Valley falls to 6-6 overall while Liberty improves to 10-3 on the season. Utah Valley's home win streak comes to an end at 11 games with the loss. The game was part of the WAC/Conference USA scheduling initiative. 

"That's a really good team," said Utah Valley head coach Todd Phillips. "The game plan was to limit the number of threes they take and we did that but we just gave up too many easy baskets at the rim. We've got to be better defensively one-on-one. We've got to be better. We gave up too many easy buckets."
 
Liberty shot a blistering 84% in the first half, knocking down 21 of its 25 shots to build a 46-34 lead that it would extend in the second half. The Flames finished the game with a 60.7% (34-56) clip from the field, including a 42.1% (8-19) mark from long range.
 
Grady scored his team-best 16 points on a 7 of 9 clip from the field. He pulled down six rebounds with one block. 
 
Dorius scored his 15 points on 5 of 8 shooting from the field, including his first career made three-point field goal. He also went a perfect 4 for 4 at the free throw line. Dorius pulled down a team-best eight rebounds on the night with a team-high three blocks. 
 
As a team, Utah Valley shot 38.7% (24-62) from the floor with a 12.5% (2-16) mark from long range. Utah Valley did outrebound the Flames, 36-27. 
 
Utah Valley will wrap up non-conference play on Dec. 29 at Boise State. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. in the City of Trees. The Wolverines will then open WAC play at the UCCU Center on Jan. 4 against California Baptist. 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
1^st Half
Jaden McClanahan knocked down the first shot of the game to give the Wolverines a 2-0 lead and Liberty responded with a 14-4 run over the next four minutes to take an eight-point, 14-6 lead with 14:38 on the clock. A Tanner Toolson layup cut the LU lead back to five points, 22-27, at the 10:21 mark, but the Flames responded by scoring nine of the next 13 points to go up 10 points, 31-21, with 7:35 left in the half. Dorius scored four points and Allen knocked down a pair of free throws to cut the Liberty lead to six points, 33-27, with 6:26 to play, but an 8-2 run by the Flames extended Liberty's lead to 12 points, 41-29, with four minutes on the clock. The Flames held on to its 12-point lead at the half, 46-34.
 
2^nd Half
Liberty scored 10 of the first 11 points of the second half to take its lead to 21 points, 56-35, through the first six minutes of the second half. The Flames held on to their 21-point lead over the next seven minutes, 66-45, with eight minutes remaining. Utah Valley was able to outscore Liberty 18-13 over the final 10 minutes in the 79-63 setback.